The Lone Fisherman Diaries are a miscellaneous rambling of occasional thoughts by a newbie blogger. There will, from time to time, be thoughts posted that will be mostly fishing, but with liberal lacings of philosophy that will hopefully be thought provoking, or at least dialogue-producing...
-TLF

Tuesday, May 15, 2001

In the Beginning...

Just in case anyone gets this deep in this humble fisherman’s blog, what follows is the brief e-mail exchange from May of 2001 that triggered an idea that grew quietly for a few years and finally blossomed into the Lone Fisherman Diaries…-Ed, November 2007

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on 05/15/2001 07:22:06 AM

To:cc:Subject: A Passing...

A passing... I thought you should know...

"Hitchhiker's Guide" is probably one sci-fi book everyone should read... and where I am sadly lacking. Perhaps now I will pick it up too.

-Ed

** So Long, Douglas Adams, And Thanks For The Fish

Douglas Adams, 49, has hitched a ride off Earth and, presumably, is exploring other parts of the universe. Adams, who wrote the sci-fi novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," (Ballantine Books, 1979) died unexpectedly Friday of a heart attack in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"Hitchhiker," the satirical story of the search for life's answers by alien Ford Prefect and human Arthur Dent, sold 14 million copies, spawned several sequels, and was a popular BBC-TV series, none of which is all that unusual in science fiction. But in a genre that takes itself more seriously than even Adams' sad funeral, his books were tributes to the hilarious absurdity of life among the stars or right here on the condemned Earth.

Adams was born in Cambridge in 1952. His jobs before "Hitchhiker" included work in radio and TV writing and producing. Adams leaves behind a wife, Jane Belson; a daughter, Polly; and as he once wrote, the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." (42)- Chuck Ulie

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--- Lew wrote:

The guide is great stuff. I first encountered it as a radio play on public radio. Then the book and finally the TV adaptation of Adams' work. 42 has always resonated with me as the ultimate answer. It makes perfect sense (or at last as much sense as anything else) and I've often contemplated it over a glass of wine at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe while reading a bit of Vogon poetry.

While not yet having read the Guide, I've encountered it and it's "lore"(?) in fellow science fiction fans. I've always resonated with 7, and of course 42 is, well, like a higher form of 7. As you say, it makes as much sense as anything.

Odd that Adams' death hit me so hard when I haven't actually read his work... I'll have to pick up a copy of the Guide and catch up.

-Ed

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Note from November 2007:

Now you know the why behind the allusion to Doug Adams in the eulogy to Kurt Vonnegut…

If you ever hear me answer "7" or, for that matter, "42" when asked an odd question, now you know what's behind that as well...

...and do get ahold of the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy if you haven’t already. There are four or five books in the Trilogy (yep… says something about Doug Adams right there), all good, ridiculous reading.